Greek Cypriot party 'no' to U.N.
You know, this is remarkably similar to the political drama that took place when I lived in Cyprus 19 years ago. Sure, the characters and different and the particulars of the drama may be different, but the theme is virtually identical- REUNIFICIATION IS AT HAND. Some things never change, I guess-, particularly where Turkish and Greek Cypriots are involved.
NICOSIA, Cyprus (Reuters) -- The largest Greek Cypriot political party announced Thursday it opposed a peace plan to unite with the island's Turkish Cypriots because the United Nations had not provided guarantees it wanted on security.
"I'm sorry to say the response (from the U.N.) was not what we expected," Dimitris Christofias, secretary-general of the AKEL communist party, told reporters in what appeared to be a death knell for the plan.
AKEL had wanted separate referendums on both sides of the island this Saturday postponed to give time for the United Nations to pass a resolution that would have addressed its fears about the continued presence of Turkish troops on the island even if the plan was approved.
It's been 30 years since the Turkish invasion, and in that time absolutely nothing has changed. Cyprus is still divided, Greeks still distrust Turks (and vice-versa), and there are still three armies occupying an island barely larger than Harris County. I suspect that 30 years from now, we'll be hearing about how a solution to "The Cyprus Problem" is once again close at hand. Then, entrenched hatred being what it is, something will scuttle process at the last moment, and in the end exactly nothing will change. There will still be booby-trapped appliance stores in Nicosia's "Green Line", and there will still be dangerously unstable minefields (as if minefields by their very nature aren't already dangerous) desperately in need of someone clearing them.
During my time in Cyprus, I had friends who had lived in the northern port town of Kyrenia before the 1974 Turkish invasion. They had not seen their homes in 11 years then, and it has been 30 years now. I fear that they may well go to their graves without ever having had the opportunity to see the homes they were forced to abandon.
The island's residents will be voting on a reunification referendum tomorrow. I'd like to say that I'm optimistic, but it is exceedingly difficult to maintain any degree of optimism for any length of time. I'd love to be proved wrong, but I'm going to have to take a wait and see attitude on this one.
